Thursday July 9, 2009
No more sand raiding in Rawang
BY ELAN PERUMAL, SALINA KHALID and TAN KARR WEI at the Selangor State Assembly
THE Gombak District Land Office has been ordered to stop with immediate effect the illegal sand mining activity at Desa Kuala Garing in Rawang.
State agriculture committee chairman Yaakob Safari said enforcement personnel from the state would be mobilised to check on the illegal activity which has been going on for six months now.
“We will put an end to this with immediate effect and the district office is responsible for closing the mining area which is on state land.’’ he said after attending the assembly.
Yaakob said the state was investigating the syndicate carrying out the mining works.
He said the state was also investigating allegations by the public that some officials from the land office were protecting the syndicate.
Vast area: A file picture of the illegal sand mine in Rawang. “If found to be true, disciplinary action will be taken against the culprits,” he said in reference to a report in StarMetro yesterday.
The article highlighted a syndicate stealing sand worth millions from a TNB reserve land near Desa Kuala Garing in Rawang.
It stated that the illegal operation has been going on for six months and that vehicles from the Gombak land office were frequently seen in the vicinity.
Asked to comment, Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said the state valued the information provided by the public on the rampant sand stealing activities in the state.
“The sand stealing operations have been going on for many years and we are glad the people are coming forward to expose the culprits,” he said, adding that it was just a matter of time before such activities were stopped.
Khalid also acknowledged that Selangor has the highest demand for sand in the country and therefore it was a lucrative industry.
Earlier, to a written question from assemblyman Wong Koon Mun (Kuala Kubu Baru-BN) on sand theft in the state, Yaakob said the state was expected to earn RM50mil in revenue from the sale of sand this year.
He said the income would increase to RM120mil per annum from next year, once all the sand mines were licenced.
“We have lost millions of ringgit over the years to the sand thieves,” he said.
Yaakob said Kumpulan Semesta, which is a state-owned company, would be taking over the operation of the existing illegal mines on state owned land until private companies were awarded tenders.
He added that the state would also allow private land owners to carry out sand mining activities from next year.
Source:
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